In the business world, as in life, success and failure often stand just a small action apart. As much as we’d like to believe that every thriving company has climbed the ladder through hard work, integrity, and a commitment to ethical methods, the truth can sometimes be a bit more disappointing. Let us welcome you to the dark side of the corporate universe, where we’ll explore all those unethical business practices that are, unsurprisingly, still very common.
It’s crazy how, in this day and age, with all the information available to us, unfair labor practices are not a thing of the past. Unfortunately, like an unwanted relative who always shows up uninvited to family gatherings, some unethical companies and their questionable procedures just refuse to go away.
But why should you care about business ethics? Well, unless you’re a fan of company scandals, modern slavery, or the thought of hard-earned money slipping through your fingers due to unscrupulous business behavior, this topic should matter to you. Whether you’re a consumer, an employee, or a business owner, understanding how some companies work can help you spot red flags, make more informed decisions, and maybe even save you from becoming the next headline in the news. After all, no one really wants to be the person who supports or works for a company known for its dishonest practices, even less getting tricked by them.
Inspired by a Reddit thread where users shared their encounters with unethical sales tactics and shady practices, we’re about to uncover the truth lurking beneath the shiny wrapper of corporate success. Go on then, take a look at what people had to say, and feel free to share your own stories and experiences with other fellow Pandas in the comments below!
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SmthgWicked said:
"It’s shady to give dedicated, long-term employees a measly 2-3% annual raise (if any at all), while hiring less experienced people for the same (or higher) salary, than the experienced employee. It essentially punishes loyal employees."
Gimbu replied:
"And they wonder why the recent generations tend to company hop more. No loyalty from the company? Don't expect any from the employees."
Have you been to my work place? This is too spot on. Lol. Always hiring people for double and triple the salary but they can't even complete their basic tasks.
"Convenience fees for paying online. Instead of mailing in a check/money order.
Are you f***ing kidding me? You should be giving me a DISCOUNT for saving you labor costs of processing my payment."
The CC company charges them much more than it costs them to process a check.
"Tying health insurance to employment. Your boss is a terrible human being? Better not quit; you don't want to die."
nsnide said:
"Textbooks. F***ing overpriced textbooks. Bonus points if the professor of the class is also the author."
jbarr3 replied:
"I had a few professors in college that wrote the textbook but gave us the PDF versions for free."
It should be illegal to require students to buy a text written by their professor. It is unethical IMO.
xxkoloblicinxx said:
"Doing illegal things to make $20 million then getting caught and paying a $5 million fine."
cheyras replied:
"These kinds of fines should scale relative to how much you made doing the illegal thing."
Recently I saw two women get charged $600 (so like 100USD) for operating an illegal gambling den...I was like....only 600..that's like an hour's earnings, they'll go right back at it and just pay the fines.
gt35r said:
"Cutting peoples hours just enough to not be considered full time so they don't have to give you benefits. Those bosses are true pieces of s**t and I happen to know a few of them."
couragehelpme replied:
"A lot of people think this is a recent thing, but it's been like this for as long as I can remember. In the early 2000s my mom came home one night in tears telling me she lost her health insurance because they got a new manager and he cut everyone's hours to hire new part-time employees. She'd been working there full-time for years at that point. And this was back when private insurance could deny you for pre-existing conditions, so that job was her only lifeline."
Grocery store chains limit how many hours they will give most employees to not have to provide health coverage. They also expect employees to be available 7-10 7 days a week.
"Making you pay more for printing your own damn tickets at home. StubHub, ticketmaster etc."
Puff_the_magic_luke said:
"Paying invoices late, especially BIG companies that pay a few months late. It kills small business, and seems to be quite normal here in the UK."
P0sitive_Outlook replied:
"My father did some work on a solicitors' building, and they didn't pay. My mother noticed after a month they hadn't paid, and went up to have a word. The receptionist said "That's fine, i'll get it sorted and we'll post the cheque to you". My mother said "I live across the road, i can see my house from here; i'll just take the cheque". The receptionist said "I'll need to get the owner to write the check". My mother said "I can wait". The receptionist went back to work. My mother waited. The receptionist did nothing further to get the cheque and was talking to clients in the waiting area. My mother confronted her and said it's cool, she can just go through to the back room and talk to the owner. The receptionist called the owner in. [Whole bunch of arguments and bloody haggling for time in front of the clients]. My father got paid."
Yep, sounds about right but don't you dare pay them late if you're a customer.
"Paid parking at hospitals."
Oh that was great when my friend died during surgery but was resuscitated and transferred to a different hospital. I was frazzled and not thinking clearly and you're harassing me about paying when all I'm thinking about is if his heart will give out or if he'll ever wake from the coma. It didn't and he did with, very minor brain damage, but the last thing I needed was to worry about having cash to pay a fee
leyland1989 said:
"People give no f***s about your luggage or parcel, they get dropped, thrown around everyday behind the close door, especially heavy items."
George_E_Hale replied:
"I remember looking out the plane window at the luggage handlers (I do not recommend this) in Birmingham (US). They were dropping boxes, kicking things halfheartedly to push them in, acting like junior high kids given chores they don't want to do. Their orange vests hung shoddily from their shoulders as they shuffled around on the tarmac. Many hours later we arrived in Japan. The luggage handlers had white gloves (seriously), signaled each other in their transport carts, signaled and stopped even when no one seemed near, really took their jobs seriously. I don't suggest nothing ever gets lost in Japan and I know Japan isn't perfect. But the difference was striking."
"About 15 years ago, I worked for a company that absolutely forbade people talking about how much they were paid; it was considered a fireable offense, and you had to sign paperwork when you were hired stating you agreed that you could be fired for disclosing your salary. About six months after I started working there, the HR manager printed out an Excel spreadsheet listing everyone's salary, and forgot it was on a community printer. Someone found it, made about 20 copies, and just left copies lying around the place. Jesus, the drama..."
Zaorish9 said:
"Refusing to pay overtime for overtime. I saw it happen all the time. I didn't complain. I got promoted a bunch."
theclassyclavicle replied:
"Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m almost 100% certain that is illegal under federal labor laws."
MyNameIsRay said:
"Careful (deceptive) wording. "Up to 100mbps internet speeds!" means you get 5-6mbps, and "up to" 100 for a moment here and there. "Made with 100% Chicken" simply means that real chicken was utilized as an ingredient at some point. It's like saying a bottle of wine is "made with" 100% organic cork. "Sugar free!" means "Less sugar per serving than the minimum we have to report". "The top rated____" usually followed by the specific study that ranked it best. Did you know you can pay a company to perform a study for you that's guaranteed to determine you're the best?"
Lagaluvin replied:
"Add to that labelling things like "0% cholesterol!" or "Free from saturated fats!" on foods that would never normally contain or be expected to contain those things. Bonus points if it's something really unhealthy like boiled sweets."
Reduced sugar pisses me off the most. Just the other day I bought a popular brand of strawberry milk. It says reduced sugar and I was excited because I don't like too sweet. Drank some and noticed my throat feeling a little off so read the ingredients. They indeed added less sugar but supplemented with sucralose (Splenda) which I am allergic too. Who the fūck puts sugar and an artificial sweetener?? I was so pissed and had to sit in discomfort for a few hours; takes alot more for serious reaction so it wasnt life threatening. Yes I should've read the ingredients first but never had I had milk before that pulled that nonsense
mrthewhite said:
"Signing people up for stuff as add-ons to an existing bill and hoping they don't notice the extra charges."
antlerhoof replied:
"Oh god, I used to work in retail and this was something my boss and managers always insisted that we do. I was a cashier and I was explicitly instructed to have a sticker or a keychain or some other low-cost item on hand so I could 'add on' that item to the customer's items without the customer noticing. The intent was to artificially increase the average IPS (items per sale) which boosted our store's sales stats relative to the other branches in the area. A lot of customers didn't notice, and if they did, we were instructed to be all "Oops, sorry, I thought that item was yours, let me remove it from your bill." I hated it. That was just the tip of the iceberg with them. They also made us sign up customers for a bulls**t rewards program without their knowledge or consent by getting their phone numbers or email addresses. If anyone ordered online from our store, we automatically grabbed their information and added them to our rewards program database to (again) artificially increase our stats. It was slimy as hell and after a while I refused to do it. Best job I ever quit."
Items Per Sale (or Units Per Transaction,) and Average Transaction Value are such useless metrics in most cases. Customer just remembered that they also needed a pack of gum or a jug of milk? Oh, great, now my numbers are all messed up, even though that's still a net increase in sales. It's just BS for managers and upper managers to have useless pissing contests with each other.
gnosis_carmot said:
"Consistently making salaried exempt employees work 10+ hours overtime a week in order to avoid hiring more staff."
MyWorkAccountThisIs replied:
"But at the same time using a 40 hour work week to calculate things like PTO."
Miley_I-da-Ho said:
"Posting a job announcement and conducting interviews for a job you already know who you're going to hire."
donotclickjim replied:
"Most HR departments have requirements that jobs are posted internally first and then posted externally for some number of days before the intended person can be offered the job."
Negative_Goodwill said:
"Comcast's pricing strategy where they raise the price an absurd amount from one month to the next and just hope customers aren't paying attention or too passive to complain."
tacsatduck replied:
"Called Comcast Friday to try and lower my bill. I tell them I don't want the phone, any of the premium channels other than HBO, give me regular internet instead of "Blast", and the I don't need the DVR. They come back with packages that are $20 to $50 more than what I am currently paying. Let me get this straight, I drop STARZ, SHOWTIME, CINEMAX, phone line, go to a slower internet package, and give up the DVR box and I pay more? How does this make sense?"
"Using unpaid intern as worker. They have the exact same tasks has everyone else, they work the same hours, even more because they think that if they work more they will be noticed and hired (they won't), and it's rare that their supervisor take the time to teach them anything. They have to figure out things by themselves. Of course most struggle, and it's used as an excuse to not hire them."
LostNTheNoise said:
"Companies that stifle competition/innovation by buying smaller companies just to stop what the smaller company is doing."
JulianBailey replied:
"This happens on a big scale and small scale. My dad had a friend that started a drywall company in a small town in Colorado. He'd buy out any other company that started up (usually for hundreds of thousands of dollars) just so he wouldn't have to bother with competing with them."
What I've noticed recently is big companies opening all sorts of companies and selling everything so they make all the revenue of their "name" rather than allowing other business to also thrive.
stengebt said:
"Nepotism."
k0fi96 replied:
"Everybody hates nepotism until they benefit from it."
Back2Bach said:
"Emissions testing garages that deliberately fail your car so that they can make money doing needless "repairs" (or recommend a buddy's business for the work)."
MKEmarathon replied:
"To be fair this is illegal not just unethical."
This is definitely illegal, and I'm not even sure what state this could work in. In Wisconsin, the 'emissions test' is a computer interface to the OBD2 port in your car, which reports directly to the state department of motor vehicles that your car's computer shows no error codes related to the emissions system. There's nothing that CAN be faked.
OprahNoodlemantra said:
"Hiring more part time workers instead of giving hourly workers slightly more hours to avoid giving them benefits. My former boss did that and we eventually found out her Christmas bonus was based on how much she saved on wages, benefits, etc."
tabascodinosaur replied:
"This. Ever wonder why a store like Walmart will have 600 workers capped at 31 hours, instead of 200 full-timers? Because benefits kick in at 32 hours a week.
Edit: Hm 3 "I work for Walmart and it's awesome" responses in under 5 minutes, after a few hours of none. Looks like Walmart PR just found this thread."
Lol (at the edit) Walmart is teeeeerible to their workers, that’s why we don’t shop there.
"No auto-cancel on recurring payments. Companies could very easily add the feature but won't hoping you forget and pay them more."
"Some degree of false advertising. My food never looks like it does on the menu. My internet is never as fast as advertised. The contractor never finishes when he says he will."
possieur said:
"Requiring experience for entry level jobs.
EDIT: people are saying that "entry level" means "entry into the company", in that case, then aren't all external openings "entry level" positions?"
Basherballgod replied:
"Many of the ads put - 3+ years experience required, so they can filter out the people applying before it happens. One of my first jobs was as a Bartender which the ad said needed 3+ years experience in fast paced rtc etc. applied, got the interview and asked hem about my lack of experience, and they said quite openly that they would interview whoever, just that line filtered 90% of the idiots that apply without any intention."
Not paying customers for the free advertising companies get from you wearing their logos on caps,hats , t shirts, sweatshirts, etc.
"Claiming it's taboo to talk about salaries and pay. This suppresses market knowledge of what someone is really worth. This is actually anti-free market. Once I started openly talking with my colleagues about what we each made we all ended up MUCH better at negotiating our salaries."
"Bribing state representatives to support the idea of letting large corporations control what you see and do online."
Akitiki said:
"Working when you are sick. I have heard stories of bosses forcing people to come in despite being extremely ill. Also I just wish that it would be a mandatory schedule length of at least two weeks if the hours are not the same every day. Mine changes weekly, and it's hard to plan anything."
User No 2 replied:
"Ugh, I know what you mean about scheduling. I worked at a grocery store that gave you your schedule on FRIDAY, and you'd have to wait to Friday to know if you worked Saturday or not! Absolutely absurd."
DaileDoe also replied:
"I worked at a gas station that did this. We had a computer system for people to request off that would literally remove them from the schedule for that time period (so there was no way for the manager to schedule them if they had asked off). The manager wouldn’t give us a password for the computer system, saying it malfunctions all the time so he prefers to do everything on paper. So every Friday when the schedule came out, we had to double check that he hadn’t scheduled us during times we couldn’t work. He was constantly scheduling me to work during times I had class, despite telling me in my interview that he could work around my schedule. When I complained he tried to say that I should be a “responsible adult” and work, since school is only meant to prepare a person to work anyway. I not so politely informed him that I had no intention of being a gas station attendant at 60 like he was, and I would not, under any circumstances, skip class to work."
In other countries it is ILLEGAL for a boss to ask why you are taking the day off! In America they think they own us!
User No 1 said:
"Wage Theft trumps all other forms of theft in the USA, yet is hardly ever enforced. It steals 8.8 billion dollars from lower wage workers a year. I would hope it goes with out saying theft from your workers is unethical."
PirateCodingMonkey replied:
"Many years ago, I worked an hourly job at a not-quite fast food restaurant. a few years after I quit, I heard from a former coworker that he had discovered that the manager was not reporting all of our time. he found out because he began to copy his time-card and compared it to his actual paycheck. he found that she was not reporting/paying him about 5 hours a week. he sued and found out that he wasn't the only one she was doing this to. of course, I found out after the business went under..."
I would have got stuck like that many times, but my wife watched my paychecks like a hawk. Don't pi** off mama, she'll unscrew your head for you.
User No 1 said:
"Congress is immune to insider trading."
deadmeat08 replied:
"And conflicts of interest."
philipwithpostral said:
"A company having a business model that relies on charging fees for breaking its own rules without justification for them. Looking at you CreditOne. Has a late payment fee but refuses to add any kind of auto-payment. In 2017. Takes 5 days to clear a normal payment. Pay 4 days before your bill is due? That's a late payment fee. Want your payment to clear earlier to avoid that fee? Pay an express payment fee! Its the same fee amount? Lordy! What a coincidence!"
Burnttoastdamn replied:
"The company is certified trash. Their logo is even designed to mimic CapitalOne’s to trick people into getting their cards."
pdhot65ton said:
"Student loans in the US-little to no approval process... they just give it. High interest rates. Refuse to settle, can't be discharged in bankruptcy. They follow people well into their 40's, limiting their buying power for houses, cars, other stuff. 17-18 year olds have no idea what they are signing because we conveniently provide them no education on the process up until they have to decide whether to sign or not."
ObservantSpacePig replied:
"This also gives colleges no incentive to charge reasonable tuition costs."
I don't know if things have changed, but when I was in school student loans are the cheapest loans out there. That's kind of the point, there's no risk to the lender so they don't charge high interest. I got 2,25% and a few years before it had been 1.5%.
"Taking advantage of recent grads/bad market to take in people who will accept s***ty conditions, then kicking them out if/when they complain and getting more new faces."
The computer gaming industry depends on this hiring strategy. Hire people with little life ecperience, work them into the ground until they get life experience and quit. Rinse. Repeat.
"Tipping. Like seriously, it's become normalized for companies to slash the pay of their employees and then make it expected for the customer to cover the difference even though they have no obligation besides a guilt trip to do so."
ParmesanHomeboy said:
"Having your customers pay extra for a sense of pride and accomplishment."
Redditor replied:
"This has killed gaming for me. I refuse to buy games that do this, so as a huge Star Wars fans I've accepted that I won't be playing any of the video games for the foreseeable future."
I thought you were complaining about building your own IKEA furniture 🤔
BoilerMaker11 said:
"Using a previous salary against you. "Oh, you make $40,000? Well, we'll offer you $50,000. That's a 25% increase in pay!" Your salary shouldn't be relative, it should be what the market value of the position is. If a job pays $75,000, don't pay me only $50,000 because I only currently make $40,000."
illuminerdi replied:
"Never tell employers your previous salary. If they insist on asking, lie. I do not believe this is even ethically wrong. If they intended to pay you competitively, they wouldn't need to ask. The only purpose in asking is to low-ball you. Never tell a prospective employer your salary or even a salary range, for any reason. Never give them a number that you aren't comfortable making, because that number WILL be your new salary if it is below their expected range."
Tell them that your current employer can discharge you for discussing salaries...:)
ivegotahughjackman said:
"Planned obsolescence."
TEG24601 replied:
"See also, quantity vs quality. People spend as little as possible on something and wonder why it breaks quickly or easily. When spending even a small amount of money on the same item (or similar) will yield much more life out of the item, saving money in the long run. Unfortunately, it will still take several decades for the "Walmart" mindset to be replaced."
"Hire young people who are prepared and motivated and enjoy the work. Give them 50 hours a week of work, no special overtime pay, tell them it'll be back to normal at then end of the month when the regular crunch is over. Repeat until near a deadline. Give them 80 hours a week, 7 days a week of crunch to meet the deadline. Continue past deadline a little while then return to "regular" hours of 50 hours. Repeat until your employees hate life. Refuse to give references when they quit "to protect yourself legally". Normalize across the industry so nobody can complain too much and sound credible."
Byizo said:
"Literally anything a corporation does that they can be fined for is taken into account as a business expense. If it's cheaper to pay an illegal dumping fine than it is to change the way they process waste nothing will be done to stop the illegal dumping."
User No 2 replied:
"Can confirm. My company didn't want to encrypt its computers and just paid a fine every year they didn't do it, until the fine got astronomically huge. Then they rushed through encryption and killed like 200 computers, costing themselves about $1000 per machine. I've learned businesses are not smart. They just set things up so that the circumstances are inconsequential when they make bad choices."
fadhero also replied:
"Businesses are made up of people, and people are often terrible about thinking and planning in the long term. Many businesses die because they look to maximize short term profits rather than ensuring long term stability."
Make CEOs and other Chief Whatever Officers responsible for the decisions their corporatoon makes, not give them multimillion dollar golden parachutes to leave the mess for the next guy.
Irishbread said:
"Ok so this is becoming really common in my neck of the woods. Basically a company need someone to fill a role. Instead of giving them a job and all the perks like paid holidays etc they instead hire you as a contractor. This means you still have to play by their rules as to when they want you in but you get non of the perks besides your wage. No sick days, no holidays nothing."
bigredcar replied:
"FWIW, in the US this can get a company in trouble both with the IRS and the state unemployment agency. Basically, if you have to behave like an employee and are treated like an employee in most respects, then you are a statutory employee. I've been through PA state audits in which I had to prove that my subs were truly subs and that I wasn't bypassing labor and IRS regulations. A company can still get away with it sometimes but there are some rules."
My company did something very right and similar situations. When we were converting to a new system instead of training existing employees to help convert, they would bring in contractors for this short period. It actually cost them more than training current employees, but the management did it so they could get rid of the contractors when the project was done and did not have to fire existing employees.
"Holding companies and operating companies. So I'm a business called Consolidated Widgets inc. and I want to open a widget factory in the US. Widget manufacturing is inherently dangerous but that's ok because the people need their widgets.
So I build my factory, hire some workers, install some equipment, procure some raw materials, then I start producing widgets. Invariably one of the workers, Leeroy is injured. Leeroy goes to hospital and gets fixed but has ongoing disability for which he sues Consolidated Widgets inc. but the case is thrown out because Leeroy didn't actually work for Consolidated Widgets inc. he worked for Flyover Widget Operating company which has substantially fewer assets than the multi billion dollar Consolidated Widgets Inc.
What happened? When Consolidated Widgets started this process they formed two subsidiary companies, Flyover Widget Operating company and Some Beach holding company (incorporated in Barbados). Most of the material investment went to the holding company which owns the real estate and likely the equipment and possibly raw materials, basically everything but the people. Then the operating company leases the facility and equipment from the holding company and now the parent company can insure that in the event of a lawsuit or government enforcement action their assets are mostly protected.
This is not 100% secure though because if you piss people off enough the government can absolutely come in and say "this is bull***t, I don't care about your corporate structure you're essentially the same company so we'll pierce that corporate veil and take your assets anyway" but generally the government doesn't like to do this because the people in office probably have a vested interest in the continued ability to shield assets in this way."
Rich people born on 3rd base thinking they hit a grand slam home run, deigning to arrogantly tell those less fortunate how to stop being so less " successful" or poor ! Lol. Looking at you Gwyneth! Lol .
jayheadspace said:
"Cancelling the Christmas bonus and enrolling people in the jelly of the month club instead."
TheLostDestroyer replied:
"The last company I worked for at the end of 2015 when I negotiated my raise I asked for 40k. They told me that they couldn't give me that but would give me 36k plus 4k in quarterly bonuses. Time for the first bonus comes around and my boss says "we aren't doing well enough to give quarterly bonuses. I'm just going to give you guys one big Christmas bonus." Christmas rolls around and the boss says "Nope still not doing well enough for bonuses maybe next year guys." Then before the year ends ties bonuses to performance but only in acquiring accounts which only the boss was allowed to do and he was phenomenally bad at. Or it was on purpose cause he was happy with how much he made. I brought up that he promised me bonuses as part of my salary and he couldn't recall it. Moral of the story get your salary negotiated and in writing. Don't let the boss claim good faith on his part. Oh yeah and that year of no bonuses? At the end of that year after my boss told the whole offices no bonuses. He traded in his 35k 3 year old SUV and bought a 70k Lexus outright, in cash. Yeah. No bonuses. Right!"
Redditor said:
"Rocketing the price of stuff and putting a 'sale'."
Edymnion replied:
"Sadly, people are dumb enough to fall for this. I forget which store it was, but they would hike prices and have constant sales. They then decided that wasn't worth the effort and money in advertising the "sales" and just marked everything down to the "sale" price and called it a day. Their sales actually tanked until they went back to the old system. People refused to buy the same merch at the same price unless they were explicitly told they were getting "a deal" on it. Even when the "regular price" was absurdly overpriced to start with."
RedLeader7 said:
"In Australia Subway claimed "Foot Long" was a trade marked name, and not a suggestion of sizing, after many people pointed out their subs were well under a foot long."
Grem-Zealot replied:
"I’m pretty sure they got sued and had to actually make the foot long a foot long."
In Ireland, subway can't call it bread because it doesn't meet the minimum health requirements. It does fit the definition of cake.
"I've seen so many to name just one. Here's the worse I've seen. So, PCB is highly toxic, highly carcinogenic stuff used mainly as a coolant in power transformers. Heavy industries often have their own transformers, usually on the roof of their building. When these transformers get old, they need to be replaced, and the PCB needs to be destroyed properly. However, doing this properly is very costly. So, a solution is to wait for a rainy day, then pour the PCB into the gutters on the roof of the heavy industry building (where the power transformers typically are). This way they disperse on the ground and no one is the wiser. Well, since then, laws were changed to make sure that all power transformers are labeled and tracked by the government, to ensure their proper disposal. Still, sometimes a few older units get overlooked. And this is how I learned of this trick... the heavy industry's building is in the middle of a large city, with kids playing nearby and all."
loud_flame said:
"There was a post about 'things your employer don't want the public to know', and I was amazed to see people say how common it was for a woman to be hired (in the tech industry mainly) basically to flirt with potential male business clients. The aim was to make them nervous/uncomfortable so the company would have the upper hand in negotiations. Wouldn't exactly call that ethical."
User No 2 replied:
"A friend of mine lives out in LA and recently tried to convince me to get a job out there. I work at a dispensary out in Tucson currently, so I hopped onto Craigslist to look at dispensary jobs out in LA, just to see what the options were. Every single position I found specified looking for female workers."Female budtender wanted", "Female 420 model needed", it was really weird. I work in inventory at my current job and am more knowledgeable about the backend more logistical workings if the company, but none of the jobs seemed to be looking for anyone like that. They just wanted someone cute."
vrtigo1 said:
"Giving a set amount of PTO, then refusing to let employees actually use it, or shaming them for doing so."
patrickverbatum replied:
"When I got legally married (we'd had out ceremony before the paperwork part) I was working at a factory. The day before we went to the courthouse my immediate supervisor was fired. I was NOT ALLOWED to take my PTO to go to the SS offices and have my name changed. NOT ALLOWED as in, if I took the time off, even just leaving work two hours early to make it to the SS office, I would be fired. NO ONE was allowed to take sick days, PTO or vacation, even if it was already scheduled for over a month. The waiting period between signing your marriage license and allowing for name change was 30 days. While it hasnt been an issue with my last name not changing, I WANTED to at least hyphenate. Ten years ago and I'm still pissed. Yeah I could go change it now, at the cost of almost 200$."
"I used to work for an unnamed university that made this big deal about how they were gonna pay $15 an hour by a certain year, well before the city min. wage was going to reach that (high cost of living). Patting themselves on the back. then there was the fine print. it was only for people HIRED to work 32 hours a week. so what they'd do was hire people to work one shift a semester, then scheduled them to work 15-38 hours a week (non students could work more than 20, I was a non student) but because the contract was only for three hours a semester. Also they didn't even pay the city's minimum wage for the first year I worked there. 2 bucks under. and when it finally did go up they didn't pay me the same rate as the students, who got the minimum wage raise. the three non student workers had to fight for two months to get the same pay... and the same thing happened the next year. I finally just quit."
"Firing people at age 39, because at age 40 you could potentially sue for age discrimination. I live in an "at will" state [MD, USA] which means they can fire you at any time for any reason. But they are still subject to discrimination laws, so... goodbye at 39."
They can fire me on a moment's notice but throw a screaming fit with threats of retaliation if I don't give them two weeks' notice. I quit anyway. Sue me.
AndroWanda said:
"Letting an employee go/easing them out instead of addressing a situation they brought up."
User No 2 replied:
"Listen were gonna need you to go ahead and move your desk down to the basement..."
hotmoltengarbage also replied:
"This works both ways. my company is extremely non-confrontational and will gently edge employees out instead of firing them. employees know they’re getting nudged out and are given months to find a new job while avoiding the “why were you fired?” question from potential employers. That being said, this is only done when somebody has done something intrinsically fireable in the first place. it’s shady when done to people who could correct their mistake and still be a valuable employee."
I've only worked for one employer in my life who had a decent mindset involving employees that were no longer "needed". The superintendent would bring them (privately) to his office and tell them that things weren't working out (or something to that effect) and that they should probably begin looking for other employment. During my time there I saw lots of people come and go but everyone, to a person, liked and respected that super.
"Public school teacher here. My school has started to deduct vacation/sick hours if teachers forget to swipe in. We’re basically there all the time anyways and don’t get paid overtime so clocking in is pretty easy to forget. What ends up happening is teachers get their accumulated vacay/sick hours deducted WHILE actively teaching, all because of a forgotten swipe. The admin and district people didn’t seem to see how absolutely unethical this practice is and I never got back 4 days of vacay hours from missed swipes."
How we pay teachers in this country is a sin. And that's why we have the dumbest citizens in the world who can't think critically and will believe outright lies. Trump is a criminally insane liar but there are people who believe those lies, even when they are demonstrably false!
"There is an investment "trick" which is probably illegal but goes as follows: Someone comes to you looking to manage their investments. They give you $100,000 to invest in certain things, and you do... but at some point, since you're managing their money, you take out $5,000, invest that money yourself quickly, make a few hundred dollars in a short time, and put the $5,000 back into their accounts. You then keep the small profits. This, done dozens of times with dozens of clients, can be super lucrative and you risk none of your own money. I think this is illegal has hell, but I don't know the technical term.
This was more in regards to stockbrokers/portfolio managers over say, banks."
This is illegal…and only works until the investment tanks and you can no longer pay back what you took to invest in…that’s why it’s illegal!
"Getting a lot more common in my industry is hiring 'interns' all the time. After their few months of 'training' they get replaced by next batch. With the shortage of jobs and need for experience, many people fresh out of college will happily work for free to gain experience."
lurch350z said:
"Government contracting - Building a thing to "specs" but not entirely up to full functionality. Knowing the issues that can/will arise, doing nothing about it, and then make the government cut a whole different (and very profitable) contract to fix said problems."
throwawayagain4567 replied:
"I do a lot of Federal Contracts, a lot of the waster here is because Procurement Officers don't know what they are talking about. I have tried endlessly to get specs right/more cost effective/more geared towards the application to no avail. In my experience the people working for the Feds don't give a s**t if its right.."
Aerospace does it this way. Also, city of LA finally changed their contact acceptance rules from "must take lowest bidder" to "can take lowest reasonable bid" after subway contractor T-S bid way below cost, got the contract, then couldn't finish the job without a huge infusion of cash.
shongage said:
"Fake promotions. There's a role you can apply for that doesn't have any extra pay or benefits, in which you do the same work as the role above that (which is higher paid) in the hopes that eventually you'll be the next in line to actually be given that next position. Except you won't."
In most places, that's called an unpaid promotion; all the work of the promotion without the added pay, benefits, or authority. Sadly common in the US, regardless of your industry, and unethical as all get out! What's worse (and also extremely common in the US), is when the company (or supervisor) slowly adds that work over a period of weeks/months without informing the employee that there "might" be a promotion in the works.
"Businesses offer mental health support (to the extent required by law) and then use this as method to illustrate there’s nothing they can do - and move the employee on."
That happened at my job. A manager was going through a very tough time in his life. He reached out to the manager to explain why he called out the last few days and hasn’t really been mentally with it when he was at work. She reminded him that our generous company gives 3 free over the phone counseling sessions. He made one phone call and knew it wasn’t for him. Went back to talk to the manager and her response was to immediately transfer him starting his next shift. And this manager is part of the zoomer generation that supposedly puts mental health above everything else
"Developers of free to play mobile games are the drug dealers of the business world. And I don't mean the ones that help you get clean; I mean the ones that slip cocaine into your weed so that you're more likely to come back for more. Yes, there are people who play these games without spending a dime, just like there are people who take drugs and don't become addicted. But out there is someone blowing all their money so that they can spend all their time fulfilling a nurtured addiction."
Free to play should be just that; no in-app purchases, no paywall to progress beyond a certain point in a timely manner, no jerkwad blowing thousands of $$ just so he can create a toxic environment for everyone else...
"Hire a batch of temps as "temp to hire" with the supposed idea being that you'll be offered a permanent position at the end of the temp period with satisfactory performance. Set performance standards that are borderline physically impossible to meet. After the end of the temp period, be like "Sorry guys, can't hire you on because you didn't meet our performance standards". Hire a new batch of temps. A plastics company I temped for did this at their injection molding plant; the whole complex was run with basically a skeleton crew of company workers/admin with a constantly rotating batch of temps making up the bulk of the workforce."
Companies have been doing this for many years, a factory I worked in making components for a lot of different stuff got bought by a very large overseas company, a few months after the sale full time workers starting being let go & replaced by Temps. Within a year or so the only full time employees left were the Supervisors, manager, and me, I was let go after being injured on the job, and all physical therapy had been done as I wasn't physically able to do what I was doing. Over 100 full time workers some having worked there over 15+ years were out of a job! People who own big businesses do NOT give a F--k about there employees!
kukukele said:
"Checkout Charity."
Owenleejoeking replied:
"The mart promises that you're money will get where it needs to go. They get to hold on to lots of cash tax free for a while and then write a check for a lump sum when the promo ends. No to mention the adverts they can run for free publicity by wording it like "we HELPED raise $10,000,000 for Homeless Pokémon". People feel all warm and fuzzy about the business even though it was us who gave the money. Technically you can keep your receipts and deduct the donation, but who is going to keep and deduct 88 cents. Let alone that you have to give up your Standard deduction and itemize your taxes to do that (in the US at least)."
"With all this talk about s***ally predatory behaviour in Hollywood you'd be excused to think the same does not happen in the business world."
The only reason Hollywood gets the attention is because Hollywood gets *all* the attention. All the time, everywhere.
"Online stores advertise their products at attractively lower prices but you will never really be able to get the product for that price because they will add extra charges somehow."
"Car salesman. Almost no other product has someone who makes money selling you a product you already want. That the price for the product is negotiable. Some people can haggle a few thousand off the price while little old ladies get taken for as much as possible. And that there are laws requiring you to buy them through dealers instead of direct from the manufacturer if you know what you want."
"I work for a roofing/ siding supply warehouse. When the contractors are done with a house they comeback and return the extra products like shingles or siding panels and keep the money for themselves instead of giving it back to the home owners who paid for them.
I guess the jobs quoted as a whole so if the contractor is short on material they eat the cost."
User No 1 said:
"Nominal weights and measures that don't match actual weights and measures. My company sells by the each but each item has a nominal weight. We intentionally produce our product approximately 10% light to save raw material costs."
he_who_melts_the_rod replied:
"What's funny is in the steel pipe industry they do the opposite. A lot of pipe mills will sell you heavier walled pipe to increase the cost of each joint."
Sewing patterns when crumpled then flattened again can save a manufacturer a signigicant amount of fabric over time. Read this years ago, so I don't remember what the percentage was, just that it was far more than I would expect. It also explains why the same pants in the same "size" manufactured in different countries never fit the same way.
So many of these would be illegal in most countries, and if true they serve to highlight how poorly-protected consumers and employees are in some places, which I assume for most of these means somewhere within the US.
I don't know why you were downvoted. What you said is demonstrably true.
Load More Replies... So many of these would be illegal in most countries, and if true they serve to highlight how poorly-protected consumers and employees are in some places, which I assume for most of these means somewhere within the US.
I don't know why you were downvoted. What you said is demonstrably true.
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